


Being known

by MagicalGhost96



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No beta we kayak like Tim, Peter and Elias are bastards but love each other in all my stories cause that is self care for me, Pining, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, my fic so i get to decide how soft they are for each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:21:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26906533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalGhost96/pseuds/MagicalGhost96
Summary: Based on a fic prompt from fangirlingpuggle in tumblr.What if Elias and Peter get drunk and accidentaly have an "I see you moment" with each other?Panic of course! Neither of them wanted to have an anchor and yet here we are again.
Relationships: Elias Bouchard/Peter Lukas
Comments: 17
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

It's been five months since he was in London, Peter considered staying away for a little longer but in the end, he changed his mind. Last time he saw Elias was to sign the divorce papers, the shorter man was, at the time, possibly planning his death with how angry he looked. His little siren was admittedly very handsome while angry. 

On his way to the institute he bought a nice bottle of wine to share with the man. Instead of going to the apartment, Peter went directly to the institute, it was Thursday, Elias always stayed late on Thursdays since he had meetings with the head of the departments. Afterwards he stays late to organize paperwork.

Peter ignores the fact that he paid enough attention to such a detail, with the expertise of someone who constantly denies any self-reflection religiously. He shudders at that though. He rationalizes that, of course he remembers, waiting at their apartment for Elias to come back, knowing he chooses to stay away to do some mundane task, is very lonely. It's not because he cares for the other and his routine, of course not.

Whistling and sending away some poor souls on his way to the institute he wonders if Elias will kick him out outright or accept the bribe of alcohol and let him stay. Not that he cares. He hasn't thought about the other during these last few months at all, the idea that he might have missed him sends a shudder down his back. How ludicrous.... and yet, he had in mind his on and off husband whenever he was on port. The fog from forsaken lifted enough that Peter could picture the other.

It's late by the time he arrives at the Magnus institute, usually he tries not to come too often since the place makes him break in hives with the feeling of being watched. That is until, he feels Elias watching him, the feeling is… far more pleasant than that of the beholding itself. Peter shrouds his mind with forsaken as much as he can so at least his husband can't laugh at him for it and call him a sap. 

God forbids someone in his family discovers he finds some form of comfort in the feeling of the other watching him.

He has to stop every once in a while to figure out where he is supposed to go. Eventually he gets hit with the acute knowledge of where he is supposed to go. Elias must have grown bored of seeing him flounder around in his temple of the eye. That plus, he was about to send away a janitor that saw him. Maybe not this time.

In less than five minutes he gets there. Opening the door without knocking and really, why would he? Peter enters and sees Elias sitting all prim and proper reading some papers. The man refuses to acknowledge him and keeps going. Peter is amused, he also takes the chance to look at the other man, Elias looks handsome in his 3 piece suit and glasses, and ah yes, it's the one he gifted him for their anniversary. A small smile tugs at his face, Peter walks to the desk, leaving the wine there and stands behind the shorter man. 

Elias for his part is doing wonderfully at ignoring his existence, there is a sting of rejection there that pleases his god. Peter for his part is looking for a reunion rather than a fight this time around so he leans down slightly and presses himself against the other back and wraps his arms around him.

“Miss me mr Bouchard?” Elias doesn't move or makes any sign that he will answer so in response he lightly nips his ear. That makes him sigh.

“Hello Peter, it's been a while, here to bother me again?” 

“Well how could I not? Considering it's so easy my squawking seagull” At the nickname Elias groans and leans back pushing him a little.

“Please stop with the annoying pet names”

“You love them, I know you do! Would you like me to list you all the ones i thought about while i was away? There are some im really proud of” 

“God NO” Peter grins and hides his face on the top of Elias head, It's so easy to annoy him. The traitorous thought that he looks cute when on the defensive comes to him regardless of his wishes. Because of that he releases him and steps back. Faking a coff to cover up his slip up, he points to the bottle.

“Since our last meeting was… less than stellar i have bought you a little something”

The brand is one of his ex husbands favourite. Elias grabs it and looks at it.

“Yes well whose fault was that now? Nice choice, maybe i'll drink it myself and you could go?” 

“What a sight for the head of the institute, to be drinking an entire bottle on his own on a work day? how scandalous” He keeps a teasing tone, to make sure the other doesn't just throw the bottle at his head. It works since Elias snorts at the comment, after a few more seconds the blonde gets up to go and grab a glass.

“True, we wouldn't want to start rumours, so you might as well make yourself useful dear” The endearment is the confirmation he needed to know that he has been forgiven, or at the very least, not in a threat of being kicked out. Maybe he doesn't have to sleep on the couch today. So he follow.

Two hours later has them both, very drunk in Elias office couch. When they finished drinking the wine, the shorter man managed to procure a bottle of scotch from somewhere in the office, so the drinking kept going. Both of them are currently entangled with each other, Elias was half on top of him telling stories about what his new archive team was up to. The archivist, marked by the web as a child, was resolute in ignoring all pieces of supernatural evidence around him and it was hilarious how much he was willing to ignore in his effort. 

Peter was half listening, more preoccupied with watching Elias face of happiness, he chuckles and nuzzles the top of his head affectionately. His, hopefully, future husband makes a pleased noise at that. 

“I did by the way”

“Mmm?”

“Miss you” Oh. Peter clears his throat a little. Elias usually denies it, Peter can feel the loneliness clinging to the other and knows he is lying, so this is, well, unexpected.

“Good, good to- to know” He stammers a little and feels like a teenager all over again, Elias has that effect on him.

“How about you?” The shorter man buries his face in the crook of his neck, if they were anyone else he would say nervously. There is a knot somewhere in his chest. Peter pushes it away, they have to go back to their old banter.

“Not the kind of thing i do Elias, that's the- that's the whole point” He feels him take a breath.

“Yeah it is”

They stay quiet in an uneasy silence opposed to the lovely chatter from before. Nervously he starts drawing circles in Elias back. Eventually he relaxes and Peter kisses tentatively the top of his head.

“So what were you saying about...” Peter, very drunk, struggles to remember the name of the new archivist.

“Jon?”

“Yes that, Getrudes replacement” Elias lifts his head and stares at him shrugging drowsily.

“Why do you care?” He sounds bitter, in most cases he would relish in it, but the alcohol and being this close to Elias, makes it difficult to just push him away. Peter moves a little to sit up pulling the other with him too. Uncomfortably he speaks.

“I do, care that is, you know it, otherwise I wouldn't come back” the other pushes back from him, he feels colder. Peter is too sluggish to succumb to his usual instinct to leave.

“I'm a means to an end. That's what our relationship is!” He hesitates, but looks at the other's face, who turns to the side to avoid him. Peter lifts his hands and grabs his face to make him look at him in the eye blurting what he feels at the moment. The contact feels like fire on his skin, Elias is the only one whom he doesn't mind that.

“ No, no you are not. Elias look at me” His heart is hammering in his chest, the alcohol and nerves make everything worse, loosening his tongue and making the world oddly focused on the other man.

“I… see you,  _ just you _ , the way you are! Magnificently wicked and clever and so much more” He kisses his knuckles (he can be charming sometimes) “No one else compares, no one could make me  _ want to go back _ like you do.  _ I know you Elias _ ” Peter feels something off, but before he can pinpoint it. Elias kisses him like his life depended on it and like a moth to a flame he can't focus on anything besides that. Slow and languidly his hands start to caress the shorter one, when the other stops and smiles at him. 

_ Oh,  _ he thinks, he really is fucked.

The other man turns his smile into a grin.

“I love yo-” He cuts himself before he finishes. Elias suddenly looks like he saw a ghost, Peter feels very much the same. He tries to use forsaken but the place where he could always feel it is just. Gone.

Understandably, he panics. Elias seems to be under the same line of though cause he rolls to the side, gets up and just. Runs.

Out of the office.

Peter flops back into the couch, covers his face with a pillow and just yells into it.

He is fucked.

  
  


No

Just no.

Almost 200 years, he is not, he just didn't. 

UGHHH

Elias is still drunk so his critical thinking is not at its best. That would explain why he chose to go to the archive, grab some of the fire extinguishers that Martin put on the drawer in case of a Prentiss atack and get into the tunnels. He is somewhat surprised that the man hasn't come to check on the noise.

Screw Jane, her worms, hell even the watchers crown, this is more important. 

He breathes heavily while still running around, the panopticon is his best choice for somewhere to just, stay and think. Eventually he finds Jane, she is quite honestly disturbing, and in any other moment he would be revolted but now? He is in the middle of a lifetime crisis and is too pissed off at himself to care. So he sprays, and sprays, he is sorely tempted, to just bash her head with the fire extinguisher, if it didn't put him way too close to her disgusting brethren.

“Go- AWAY” She screams horribly, he yells back just as much, to deter her even more he presses the memories of her life before the colony so hard into her brain Elias is sure he heard her cry out (if that was possible with a throat full of wormholes)

The sounds she makes are horrible, but he doest care, if she wants to get in, it would have to be another day. His problems are more important than her stupid invasion or useles ritual.

“Now, i'll say it one more time, get out” To get his point across he sprays even more worms, who screech while dying. Finally she hisses, sobs or whatever and blessedly leaves him alone.

Now he can go. 

Trying not to think about what happend is hard, his brain goes stupid just by thinking about Peters confesion, fuck, his own confession! Elias feels his face flush just remembering the face of pure, pure adoration the other had when he told him!

God he loves him. Jonah had many lovers through the years and he loved them true, but not. Not enough to have them be his-!

His bloody anchor.

He walks slower when he recognizes the path to the panopticon. He doesn't do anchors, hell Peter even less, it goes against his god. True, Beholding doesnt have so much issue with that kind of thing as forsaken but.

But its too stupid, he wasnt supossed to- to… 

Fall in love.

Even less with bloody Peter Lukas of all people. Fuck that, that mans whole point is to leave, their relationship was supposed to be something to pass the time, get money and get laid. Not to catch feelings, true they marry but its just for fun and to one up each other. 

Admitting he has fun while bantering and bickering with the other is not an option. Enjoying his company, the sound of his annoying, grating, soothing voice is not-

God damn it!

Their last divorce did hurt. Elias missed him, before they broke up they had been married for longer than usual, it had been… very nice, more than usual, he actually thought that maybe…

God this is terrible, he is so fucked.

Thankfully he just arrived at his destination. He can stay here until, well, until his ex husband leaves. Peter must have, after realizing what he said, what they both said. It's the only thing he can count on, he thinks bitterly. But, just in case, he is going to rest and think at the Panopticon for a while.


	2. Chapter 2

Today, Martin thought, it was going to be one of those days.

From the moment he woke up, he felt the day was gonna be a weird one. Considering where he works and that the supernatural is real, that should have been a given. 

Martin overslept, which was odd considering how light his sleep has been lately, what with the worms and all that. Instead of dwelling too much into it, (he is not going to deny himself a full night of sleep) he goes to make some tea for Jon whom he knows is going to come first. However, his plans get halted when he sees a man sitting down in a chair in the archives looking into space with a face of pure misery.

It's too early for a statement giver and he doesn't look like he works here at all. He must have frozen in place for longer than he expected because the door to the archives opens and Jon comes in. He looks at him startled.

“Oh Martin! What are yo-” Jon cuts himself when he looks to the direction his eyes are glued to. Both of them stare at the stranger in silence until Jon clears his throat.

“Hello? Is there a reason you are here mister..?” The man seems very happy to just ignore them which is rude. 

Martin goes to stand closer to Jon just in case, he doesnt think he could take the stranger out if it's someone dangerous, but at least he can be backup. He whispers.

“He was already here when I came and I don't think he works here Jon. What do we do??”

“I dont.. you didn't hear him come in or anything?”

“No! i just woke up, it's the first time i sleep this well before Jane kept me at my place, i, i really don't know anything”

They both stare at the man for a few minutes in silence, that seems to be the thing that finally makes him acknowledge them.

“Oh, you can see me” 

**???**

Is he a ghost?

“is he a ghost???” he grabs Jon's arm and whispers at him desperately. “You can see me.  _ What does that even mean _ ???”

Jon looks just as bewildered as him, but snaps out of it. 

“Maybe he is drunK”

“How did he get in here?” This is weird, not deadly weird but still.

“You know i can hear you right?”

Both of them jump back, the man is now standing up and is barely a meter away from them. How the hell did he get there so fast and without them noticing? Standing up, the stranger is taller than him by a head, and Martin is honestly one of the tallest people in the institute.

“Sir um, you should probably leave, this is an archive and umm” He looks nervously around “And unless you are here to give a statement you should leave” The man looks uncomfortable, Martin realizes now that, despite his height, the other man seems to start shrinking into himself the more he speaks. 

“Oh well i was just… I was just waiting for Elias, honestly don't know how long he can keep this up. It's his fault anyways that im-!” He seems affronted and he keeps twisting his fingers nervously while talking. 

Martin looks at Jon as if saying what now.

“You know Elias?”

“Yes unfortunately, we are currently divorced but usually he is my husband”

…. what. Martin gapes.

“And you are???” Jon looks just as confused as him.

“Captain Peter Lukas. You are the new archivist” He seems to be struggling to remember something ”Jon! right? Elias told me but i almost forgot” He looked oddly proud of remembering, then he just looked scandalized.

Jon mumbled confusedly.

“Elias talked about me?” He shook his head and froze. 

“Ah, mister Lukas could you, perhaps wait there, i need to- need to talk with my assistant for a minute”

Peter looked relieved at being dismissed, despite the fact that he approached them in the first place. Jon practically drags him to his office and closes the door.

“Martin! That is Peter Lukas! the man from the statement about the boat The Tundra? With the disappearances. Elias was very adamant about not investigating the Lukase since they fund the institute” 

Jon looks.. cute. He seems to be very excited about the whole thing.

“Isn't that… bad i mean”

“Yes but he is here, maybe we can get him to admit something!” 

Martin is already thinking some new ideas for a poem with how happy Jon is looking when he remembers something.

“He, he said that they are currently divorced but usually they are married. Do you think maybe Elias didn't want you to investigate because it could implicate him too? if he is aware of illegal dealings?” 

Jon stops pacing and looks at him, oh man, he feels himself flush with the attention he is being given.

“Martin you might be right this is highly suspicious!”

“Still! if he disappears people shouldn't we be careful? Maybe wait for Tim and Sasha, to have back up in case of emergency at the very least?”

The shorter man crosses his arms and frowns.

“I know for a fact Sasha would want to figure things out too… How long till they come?”

Martin checks the clock in the office.

“Ten more minutes at least? Maybe we should text them, let them know”

Martin opens the door a little and sees Peter sitting down again.

“He doesn't seem to be in any hurry really, he looked more bothered by us talking to him than anything.”

“Yeah well, who knows” Martin can see Jon texting furiously.

They stay in the office and in record time they hear Tim and Sasha arrive. Martin pokes his head through the door and waves his hand to make them come inside. They both give Peter a look but enter quickly. The moment Tim closes the door he starts talking.

“Ok so what's up with the sad sailor over there?”

“Jon is he really Peter Lukas??” Sasha looks just as excited as Jon.

“Yes he confirmed it, also apparently he and Elias are together, so maybe he didn't want us to investigate him because he knows something!”

“Well boss, the man doesn't really look like that much of a threat right now, resembles more a sad dog on the rain”

“Tim!”

“Oh come on Sash just look at him”

This time, they all look at Peter through the door. He is… not wrong, the man looks rather miserable and uncomfortable.

“So what, do we interrogate him? What if he tells Elias? We would be getting in trouble!” As much as he would like to help, Martin doesn't want to lose his job over something like this. He really needs it. Jon sighs.

“He did say he was waiting for Elias, but he should probably be in his office by now” 

They stay silent. 

“Do we just work like usual? and wait until he leaves?”

“...”

“Maybe?” Jon looks unsure now.

“We could just let him be for a while, don't think it would hurt” Tim shrugs at Sasha's comment.

“Sounds fine by me”

They all decide to just work like usual and ignore the other man.

Martin is sure he saw him relax when none of them made any attempt at speaking with him. So for the next three hours things went well. 

  
  


Tim was honestly bored. The other man was just still there waiting, it was a little unnerving, he honestly forgot about him several times since he was so quiet and barely moved. But he was also curious. 

Who the hell would marry that weasel of Bouchard? Apparently some evil capitalist captain. Still, when Martin went out to get tea, Jon was recording and Sasha went to get some papers he went to check on the new guy.

“Hello! You are Elias husband?” Peter startles and looks to the side avoiding eye contact. Tim notices he keeps fidgeting with a ring.

“Currently ex!” He said that in a surprisingly cheerful tone. ”But that never lasts you know”

“Oh?” That is confusing but sometimes people break up and make up, he shouldn't judge that. Elias is really a nasty little dude so its not surprising.

“Well, i imagine it must be hard Elias doesn't seem to be easy to be around…”

“Oh absolutely, he is positively revolting, annoying and gets into my business all the time. Honestly he is rather smothering” Now, what he said with the tone he spoke did not match up at all. He spoke almost as he was describing the weather. It should be unnerving but..

“Hahaha, oh man yeah I can totally see that” Peter is absolutely pranking him. The other man looks at him sideways, never making eye contact. Tim figures he must have some anxiety issues. He smiles, but refrains from making eye contact too, it would be rude if it really bothered him.

“He actually sneaked into my boss, birthday party, ruined the surprise about the cake and stole it! The little weasel!” Peter actually snorts so Tim takes it as a win.

“Oh yeah he does that…” He manages to catch the small smile the taller man makes, along with the fond tone of voice. So he does care.

Tim stays and keeps chatting with the other man, or more like monologuing. He does offer some comments here and there plus a few snorts from time to time, so he feels pretty good about the whole thing.

At one point Martin and Sasha come back but he waves them away. 

He tries to get more info about the man to share with the others but so far the only things he learned are that he is truly fond of sailing, he really doesn't like to be around others and that he is surprisingly sappy about Elias. Like not in a direct way, but if you got him to talk, between the barbed commentary about the other he truly seemed to care a great deal. 

It was honestly hilarious how he didn't seem to realize that the only thing he spoke about besides sailing was Elias.

Now he can actually picture how this two work, Peter is too socially awkward while Elias is the opposite. Where Peter seems to flounder Elias picks up the slack. It would be sort of adorable if it wasn't his shitty boss.

After spending fifteen minutes more talking about his last kayaking trip to a very nice and secluded lake in which Peter offered some interest. 

They were bonding! 

He decided to go and get something to eat and asked the other man if he wanted something.

Peter grabbed his wallet and produced a surprising amount of money and told him to spend it wisely. Tim actually gaped it was a  _ lot  _ of money.

“I think this is too much i mean…”

“No, buy something whatever you like, keep the rest, take your time”

“I really can't acept-

“Please do,  _ just go _ ”

“Oh, oh well Thank you Peter. I'll bring you something then!”

Peter mumbled.

“Please dont come back.”

Sasha saw Tim leave and was really tempted to just go up to the man and ask questions of her own.

It was actually really funny to see Tim absolutely ignore how much Peter seemed to try and get him to leave. Honestly he complains about Jon regarding Martin and yet he also lacks self awareness himself. She had to muffle her laugh when Peter finally made him leave and looked like he would start to weep tears of joy out of relief.

She decided to give him some time, having Tim speaking non stop for an hour and a half must have been too much.

Instead she reads some files. After some 10 minutes she realized something was amiss, but couldn't point out what it was.

Starting to tap her fingers on the desk, the niggling feeling that she was missing something wouldn't go away. It was when she got down to pick up her pen and saw the fire extinguisher that she realized.

There weren't any worms.

Blinking confusedly she realized that for the entire morning there wasn't a single worm. While the last few weeks there were always some in the archive.

She spared a glance at the entire place. Jon was recording, Martin was working and Peter was… standing behind Martin??

What, when the-

Suddenly she heard Martin sigh

“Peter?”

“Yes?”

“Personal space?”

“Oh! Sorry my bad”

“Did you want something or…”

“Mmm? no not really just curious”

“Err well couldnt you go, somewhere else?”

“only if i could Martin”

Martin stared at her mouthing a help me.

“Mr Lukas? why won't you sit on the spare desk” He looks startled at her, like he forgot she was there. She feels slightly offended at that! “Please” She sounds a little more firm, he glances at Martin looking a little... lost?

“Sure”

He sits and stays there, he is weird but in such an unassuming way it's very easy to forget he is even there. That is a very sad thought, to be just forgotten.

Eventually he toys with a pen, clicking it from time to time, not in a constant way, but enough that it becomes annoying.

She tries to focus but the sound is too close for her to ignore.

“Could you perhaps stop that?”

“Mm?” He does it again, this time more often.

“Peter stop playing with that” He sighs

“You sounded just like Elias” Peter is… moping.

Her eye twitches. 

It keeps going, he would sigh and make a comment about Elias this or that.

When she asks about his ship to maybe see if they can get something useful he shrugs, and speaks just as fondly of the boat as he does Elias. Maybe a little more. She definitely gets the divorces now.

Discreetly she texts Tim, but apparently he got a lot of money and was trying to get something nice for everyone. 

She was so focused on that she forgot about the lack of worms.

  
  


Jon is still miffed about Peter Lukas and Elias lying about why he shouldn’t investigate the Lukases.

He hears Tim talk, then Sasha and that incessant clicking. Eventually he gets tired and goes out. He doesn't care if this is some plan from Elias, the man needs to leave and stop disturbing the peace. He gets close.

“Mister Lukas, if you wanted to see Elias you should probably go to his office, he should be there by now.” Peter stiffens at hearing him and turns slowly to look at him.

“Oh no, he ran off yesterday here, and i've been waiting for him to come out. i really can't go outside like this. If anyone knows how to fix things is him.”

“Run… here?  _ Why _ ?” 

“Yes, we both admitted we ugh care for each other so he runned off. Honestly I should be furious at him, it was all his fault, but at his point I'm more tired than anything. Also i.. miss him and that shouldn't really happen.”

“...”

“You married him” Sasha looks baffled. 

“Yes, yes i did”

“And he runned off because you admitted you cared about each other?? How long have you been together exactly?” Martin asks, confused.

Peter seems to mull it over, he also seems to try and make himself disappear the more they speak to him.

“Almost 25 years i think”

“And this is the first time you told each other you cared???” Ok this is really insane or really good prank.

“Yes well, our allegiances make things difficult. Honestly this shouldn't have happened. Now i'm stuck here. Trying to leave when there are so many people outside, it's revolting. What if they try to speak with me?”

“We are speaking with you now?”

“Unfortunately yes”

Jon looks at Sasha and Martin in complete bafflement.

“Anyways, I'll just stay here until he comes out, he has to eat eventually. Unless he managed to hide a stack of food. In that case this might take longer than intended”

“Umm, just curious but where do you think he went? He is not here” At this point Sasha is just as done as him apparently.

“The tunnels of course” 

“... What tunnels?”

“There are no tunnels in-!”

“We would know if there were any-”

Peter looked like a deer in the headlights with everyone talking on top of each other and demanding he answers. Martin seemed to take pity on him.

“Guys, GUYS, maybe we should calm down and just let one of you ask? He seems overwhelmed”

“Fine!” Jon takes a breath. “ _ What tunneld do you mean _ ?”

Peter shudders but answers.

“The ones Smirke Built almost 200 years ago” Sasha looked way more interested now.

“As in Robert Smirke? The architect?” 

“I, yes the very same, they are underneath the Institute, run all across the city”

“And the entrance to these tunnels is?”

“In your office i believe”

“There isn't such a thing”

“Well, where do you think the worms keep coming from then?”

“... the Jane Prentiss worms?”

“Yes the corruption worms, truly disgusting little creatures”

“Corruption?” Sasha started to write it down while Martin came to stand near him.

“One of the fourteen fears? Do you not- OH right, Elias did say you were pretending the supernatural didn't exist” He hears Martin splutter besides him.

“Pretend??”

“I assure you im not-”

“Look i don't care ok? tell yourself whatever lets you sleep at night little beholder but its not my-”

“What does that mean? What is beholder, or corruption or the 14?!  _ Tell me _ ” Jon hears a tape recorder but ignores it. Peter takes a breath and looks like he got punched.

Then he tells them.

Oh he is so going to punch Elias when he finds him.

Afterwards they go to his office, Peter finds a small trap door that leads to some stairs. He wanted to go, but they told him to stay there.

He grabbed some flashlights with Sasha while Martin went to get the fire extinguishers. Finally the three of them descended.

Elias had been in the panopticon for half a day now and he was really bored, half of the time he spent sleeping off what he drank and the rest just thinking.

Peter must have left by now, so he makes his way back. He will wait until it's lunch time near the entrance and leave while Jon and the others are away.

He was away from the Panopticon, closer to where he sprayed Jane when he got blinded by light.

“What the-!”

“Elias!”

He blinks and sees the blurry shapes of Jon, Martin and Sasha.

“What, what are you doing-” He would have finished if Miss James hadn't slapped him.

“How dare you!”

“I really don't know what are you-”

“Really? you mean you don't know about the tunnels or, Jane living here, about the institute being some form of temple to an Eldritch god??” Jon sounds incensed.

“... Peter” Oh he is going to murder him.

“Yeah he was in the archives waiting for you”

“Very annoying and also very sappy for someone who follows a god of basically depresion” Sasha sounded exasperated.

“Sappy? what”

“He only spoke about you or his ship the entire time” For some god awful reason he felt his pulse get faster and his face warm at that.

“He spoke about me?” He couldn't stop himself from sounding awfully hopeful.

Jon rolled his eyes.

“In the middle of explaining the whole 14 fears, during the part involving Beholding he went into a tangent of 10 minutes all about you. It was nothing useful or related about it”

“To, to be fair he did also spend quite a while talking about Forsaken and how wonderful it is” Martin seemed annoyed. Sasha snorted.

“It sounded like he was trying to sell us depression and doing a very poor job of it” Elias despite the annoyance couldn't help but chuckle a little at that. God what has love done to him

“Yeah that would my Peter” 

The 3 of them looked disgusted but he didn't really care.

Eventually they all turned around to go back.

“God when Tim find out he is going to kick your ass i hope you know”

“Language miss James”

“Or what you fire me? if i understand that is not a choice here”

“True, but i still can make work difficult so lets be civil at least”

“Um Elias?”

“Yes Martin?”

“What happened to Jane? We saw lots of dead worms but she wasn't there”

“Ah. i Might have… kicked her out for now. Not sure if she will come back but for now that is not a problem”

“Kick her- How?”

“You really don't want to know”

“I would!”

“I know Jon, but not today”

By the time they come back, Tim is waiting for them looking angry and guilty.

The part that calls Elias attention is the lack of Peter.

“Tim! you finally came back!”

“Hey Sash” He hugs her back, and spins her a little.

“Tim we need to explain-” The other man raises his hand to stop Jon.

“I heard the tape with the explanation” When he finishes saying that he goes to Elias, who tries to step back and decks him in the eye.

“That is for lying and keeping us trapped here, you -”

“Tim!”

“I believe I deserved that” That hurt like hell. Thank beholding for having quick healing.

“Ermm Tim?”

“Yeah Marto?”

“Where is Peter?” At that he looks sheepish.

“I might have, possibly lost him”

“.... what,  _ how do you lose a grown man!” _

“i heard the tape and started pacing and wanted to murder something, but Peter was still waiting for you and i needed to burn off steam so i suggested a tour of the place, mostly so i didnt do something stupid. And between Library and Artifact storage I lost him, he must have runned off somewhere” Sasha pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Tim, please tell me you didn't lose him IN artifact storage, is the one place where there are several actually cursed murder objects!!”

Elias ignores their rambling and starts looking, without the fog covering Peters thoughts finding him is not hard. What he sees however is not good.

“Oh FU-”

  
  


Peter managed to lose Timothy thank god. He saw the doors and just went in, the place was blessedly empty and full of stuff. He muses this must be the infamous Artifact storage room. 

Elias was so very proud of it. He knows because his lovely siren likes hoarding stuff, even the useless ones. 

Peter still tries every once in a while to use forsaken but it rejects him, he hates that, he hates feeling so much when he is used to so little. What he usually feels for Elias is amped up so much it's disconcerting. Just thinking about him makes him want to smile stupidly and talk about all the annoying little things he does! Its denigrating. That plus the nerves and anxiety, everytime someone talks to him or sees him he feels like he wants to run. 

Peter wants Elias to just deal with them so he can be left alone.

He was so focused on that he didn't notice the object he hit. When he looks down there is a table. He sees fractals in it, so maybe the spiral, but after staring for a little longer he realizes it's the pattern of a web.

The sound of something moving in the distance breaks him out of his reverie. He tries to see but there is no one there. Slowly he starts walking backwards to the door he came in until he hears a male voice.

“I seeeee youuuu” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dont worry this is a happy ending story. It was meant to be a short chapter but things got out of control.  
> I remembered the audio of the q+a that said Peter would be an accidentaly good dad for Tim, who would be completely oblivious to Peter just wanting him gone. And now its living renting free in my head.  
> Peter without having Forsaken numbing him is absolutely smitten with Elias but its too out of it to realize the extent of it. While everyone else is just like really??? He is basically a really evil and shitty Gomez from the addams family cause he loves his spouse so much.  
> aLSO Peter went to Martin cause he can tell he has some form of lonelines so subconciously he tries to get closer.  
> Next chapter is Elias turn.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter can see, and barely so, something that's not human in the distance, the closer it gets to him, the more shaped like a man it looks. He has a few seconds to realize what's happening and when he catches on he starts walking backwards to the door faster. Peter has the awful feeling that if he stops looking at it, it would be the last thing he does.

If it was trying to be him, it is failing miserably, apparently choosing to look the complete opposite of himself, short, skinny, brown haired and clean shaven. He stumbles into the door and struggles to open it while the thing is gaining on him.

He has an awful thought that maybe not even Elias would be able to tell the difference, that maybe he wouldn't even care if he did. 

Maybe he doesn't  _ know  _ and it gives the chance to the notPeter to get close and dispose of him for the Stranger. The idea of being completely forgotten by something stealing his life, even by the only person he loves is perhaps the loneliest thing that could happen to him but for the life of himself he hates it. 

“Ohhh youu, you will be fun, sad but fun, Nikola will be pleased if i get rid of that pest you call husband. His face by the time he realizes will be priceless!!” Peter has a horrible image of that thing just playing house with Elias before going to kill him. It makes him want to punch it, it makes him want to puke.

He can't open the door handle, his hands are sweating and the angle to open it like this is wrong, but the thing is already too close for comfort. 

Huh, he really is going to die. Peter always knew that Elias would be the death of him, he just didn't expect this. He doesn't want his death to be for this disgusting thief.

The notHim was already reaching to eat his life away when suddenly it started to scream. 

A horrible, awful, deafening sound.

Peter had to put his hands on his ears since it was intolerable that close to him.

“SsssTOoooooOPPP ThhhAaaT!!!!!!” He was so distracted he almost fell to the ground when the door opened behind him unexpectedly. Peter stumbles but someone grabs him by the scruff of his coat to pull him out.

When he turns around he sees Elias and the archive team. His ex husband looks positively murderous (at least this time it's not directed at him) it's the most beautiful thing he has seen. 

The rest of the archive team looked ashen faced, when he turned the thing that was not him started to look less than human again.

“FUCK OFF FROM MY HUSBAND” Peter must be having a heart attack he is sure. He feels as if someone took a hold of his chest and squeezed it, but for some reason it was also very pleasant. 

Maybe he doesn't really know how a heart attack feels.

Beyond that, he wants to lift the smaller man and just take him away somewhere else, preferably a place where they can be alone together.

Peter in a moment of clarity slams the door close on the thing, Elias immediately procures a key and locks it.

The thing is still screaming and seemed to start hitting the heavy wooden door.

“Elias is the door going to be enough to stop that thing?” The girl… Sasha! looks at the door clearly uncomfortable.

His radiantly furious future husband seems to think about it.

“Miss James?”

“Yeah?”

“I recommend you run. We should all do it” Elias looks like he is struggling, probably givin the thing awful nightmarish visions. 

“What about everyone else? we can't leave this thing here!” Tim looks outraged at that, it's not like any of them is a hunter or part of the slaughter, hell if he could, with forsaken he might have managed to get rid of it.

“TIM, as long as there is no one close it would have to go back to the table, i can't exactly make it see memories forever, so just GO” And to make his point across Elias grabbed his hand and started to drag him away. 

The other four froze but when the sound of the door splintering a little hit them, they grabbed each other and left in the direction of the archives.

Elias dragged him to his office, his secretary looked frazzled at seeing him

“Mr Bouchard sir where have you-!”

“Not now Rosie, i'm just going to get some things and leave early today. Also if you could call and ask for the exterminator, yes the special one would be great. There was a pest inside the table in artifact storage that needs to be….  **_destroyed_ ** ” Peter shivers at the tone, Elias didn't leave her enough time to say anything before closing his door. 

The shorter man drags him to where he left his things the night before and tries to grab his jacket and briefcase, however it's not exactly easy to do while holding hands. Slowly he lets go. Peter can already feel the loss of contact very keenly, barely managing to suppress a pitiful sound. Now that they touched, he wants to wrap himself around Elias and never let go. 

God he needs Forsaken. 

His skin feels tingly, he realizes belatedly that before last night he hasn't had any physical contact with anyone that wasn't Elias in  _ months _ .

Soon enough the other has everything he needs and is walking to the door, Peter follows him numbly. There, he thinks, he can feel that little tug of his god. 

After leaving the office, they manage to reach the entrance door without seeing anyone, it's before Elias opens the door that he freezes. Peter can hear the sounds of the city outside, people walking and talking, without the fog they would not step aside for him. He starts to breathe faster. 

It's too much, he doesn't want to be seen by any of them!

He feels a weight in his hand, Elias is holding it again and looking at him... worriedly?

“Peter, it's just the walk to my car, no one is going to see you” He laughs incredulously.

“Easy for you to say little… little man” With the hand that is not interlocking his fingers he caresses his face.

“Look i'll just make everyone that crosses our path look elsewhere ok? Cmon I bet you a favour that we can reach my car in under five minutes. Otherwise you owe me” He manages to focus on the weight of Elias hands and his stare. The bet snaps some of his panic away, Peter still hates it but he doesn't want to lose either. 

He takes a breath, gives Elias a quick peck in the cheek and tugs him to the door.

They make it in less than five minutes.

Elias has truly had the most awful, terrible, horrible, no good, worst day ever. 

His plans have gotten sideways completely.

Jane is gone, his archivist now knows what is going on and-

and he is going to make that disgusting thief disappear out of the face of reality in the most painful and horrible way. The hunter/exterminator he asked Rosie to call is known for being absolutely ruthless with those of the stranger. If it was up to him he would have dissolved  _ its  _ head with all the information of the people it took before, but he doesn't have that much power.

How fucking dare  _ it  _ to try and steal what is  _ his by right. _

His husband.

He grips the wheel so hard his knuckles turn white. Peter's mind is hazy, he seemed to have zoned out. Elias managed to take a peek at the others recollection of events.

The feeling of despair and rage when the lonely sailor figured that the thing wanted to play with Elias was so unexpected he gasped a little. His face got warm, he wanted to keep him. His fucking anchor, who would have thought the day would come.

Jonah had a plan to use Peter and there was a high chance that it might cause his death but right now? With everything being completely off the rails he simply wants to keep him. And what he wants  _ he gets.  _ He wouldn't have gotten this far in life otherwise.

After 15 more minutes they make it to their apartment. Even divorced they still share, after all, those never last long. Peter seemed to have dozed off, so he shakes him. He grumbles and makes a honestly adorable grumpy face.

Inside, he drops his stuff and goes to the bathroom, Peter just flops in the bed to wait for him. Elias has the feeling he wants to follow him, he muses if it would be worth the trouble of maneuvering themselves but simply decides not to. He is tired after all.

When he is done he lets Peter in. He stays there long enough that Elias starts to wonder if he drowned. Thankfully it takes a few more minutes for him to come outside.

Then it's just the two of them.

Peter stares at him for a little before moving and proceeds to lift him up.

“ _ Unhand me now you damp idiot!”  _ Peter chuckles and it sounds lovely.

“Never!” And Peter kisses him. 

Oh.

Being kissed by Peter is usually cold, even with the man doing an amazing job, it still feels like freezing and ocean spray.

The taste of the ocean is still there, but now is hot, practically burning, Elias is drowning in it. He hates it.

He loves it.

Jonah wants  _ more _ .

He pulls at Peter's hair and kisses him breathlessly. The other walks backwards until his knees hit the bed and he falls with him on top. 

Elias wants this to last, he knows it can't, Peter cant live without forsaken, he has been intertwined with it for too long. Too long without it and it would kill him. 

His love for him would kill-

“Fuck”

His body is alight with the thought of causing his doom just because he loves him. Peter is not the first, but he is definitely the one Elias wants to keep.

_ He knows him, _ admitted it himself. Loves him for everything that he is, regardless of the consequences. And Elias, Elias does too. That is the worst part. Both feeding from each other, needing each other. How can Peter be alone if he doesn't know what it's like to have a connection to lose. How can Jonah live without someone to try and know, who would fight him tooth and nail but still let him get away with it.

Both move their hands to grab the other anywhere they can touch. His skin feels almost like it's on fire. He wonders if this is how those of the desolation feel.

He almost lost him. He growls a little and bites him leaving a mark.  _ His anchor _ . When Peter starts to try and get him out of his shirt he stops him.

Peter  _ whines _ .

Elias wants to keep going so much, but he needs to say this before.

“Peter, hey wait ahng “ He bites him just right “Cmon use your brain a little and not your di-” The taller one sighs but stops kissing him, he still keeps touching him constantly but its bearable.

“Listen i thought about it and maybe there is a way to make this new normal work, for both of us i mean”

“How? Forsaken doesn't want me like this, its blasphemous to to-”

“Do you love me?” Peter looks at him like he was stupid.

“Yes, i do” Jonah smirks.

“Do you want to stay with me?” Peter looks pained.

“Yes” Elias is almost vibrating with excitement.

“Then i want you to leave”

“.... what”

“Not now, good god, it has been months, but. In a few weeks you leave like always”

“And what good will that do? Forsaken will eat me or worse my heart gives out on me” He kisses him softly on the lips, and watches mesmerized as Peter attempts to follow when he stops.

“You want to stay, you know now how it feels to love me completely. How would it feel when it's finally over and you have to go away? Forsaken would love it, how miserable you can get. I know now too how things could be with us and I will never be able to forget it. I will be positively miserable missing this, even if I know you will come back” His soon to be husband looks like he hanged the moon and stars for him, Elias heart soars.

“Oh, OH you wicked, horrible, wonderful man” In a show of strength Peter turns them around and pins him to the bed.

“And the best part is, we can both just be like this only for as long as you are in land, the loneliness will be even worse than before” Peter blinks and stays there thinking for a little, he seems to realize something because he smiles and goes right back to kissing him.

“What are you-”

“Well if we have until I leave, i'm going to do something i really wanted to do before” Elias gasps a little.

“Yeah? what is it then?”

The taller one smirks and whispers.

“I'm going to worship you” Oh god.

That is the last coherent thought Elias has for the night. Everything else is a blur.

  
  


The next day Elias is covered in bites and hickeys which wouldn't be so bad if Peter didn't leave so many around his neck.

He ends up using makeup to try and cover them up, along with the already greening mark under the eye Tim punched.

Afterwards he starts making breakfast. Peter was completely out of it sleeping. Its when he is pouring coffee that he feels arms wrap around him.

“Did you make me something too little man?” He snorts.

“No, people who leave marks when i have to work dont get breakfast”

“Shame I even got you something to buy your cooperation” Curiously he turns and faces him.

“And what pray tell could you have gotten?”

“Hand?”

Ah he was expecting this.

“When did you..?”

“I had it all day, was going to ask you when we were drinking but things went wrong quick”

“Understatement of the century”

“So?”

“Yes you giant idiot i will mary you now go,i have work to do”

Peter yawns and goes to sit at the table. He grabs the two cups of coffee, while the other smirks at him when he sees them.

“Getting soft?”

“Never, you?”

“In your dreams”

This is perfect. After a while of silence while he reads on his phone Peter looks at him and speaks.

“I was wondering”

“Mmm? Yes dear” 

“What do you say we invite those archive lackeys to our wedding?”

He almost spits his coffee

“Why??” Peter gives him the most mischievous grin.

“Oh they would hate it”

And that.

That is true.

He can picture it, Jon would be really uncomfortable, Sasha would be annoyed, Martin most definitely would hate it but he would be too nervous to say anything and Tim…

Tim would probably wear something hideous and start heckling at him during their vows.

Of course there is Simon too, who no matter if they invite him or not. Hell sometimes neither of them tell him they are getting married again, somehow always comes to all their weddings.

“I was picturing a nice little abandoned chapel, the reception would be on me of course and you organize the whole thing, buy the nicest suit you want and -”

…

Oh yes, he really, really loves this man.

  
  
  


The next day Tim and Sasha went to speak with the head of the Artifact storage, but when they got there the entire place was sealed out.

When questioned, apparently Elias hired some exterminators to deal with an issue there, so they closed it down for the day. After a few hours when Tim went to go get something to eat, he saw a pair of very scarred men lifting black trash bags. They made awful squelching sounds. So he guesses the problem was solved?

Afterwards they barely saw Elias. Most of the time they kept doing their jobs, (even if they wouldn't get fired for not doing it) exploring the tunnels together after work. Because Jon and Sasha wanted to figure it out and Tim, after what happened to his brother, wouldn't let them go alone, along with Martin who wanted to help in any way he could.

Without the worms it was much more relaxing working there again.

A week after the incident, Elias finally came down to the archives, looking much more composed than that day. Tim wants to punch him in his smug little face again, and boy wasn't that satisfying.

“Hello, I have come to offer congratulations for making it another week, along with a please be cautious when going down the tunnels, since none of you seem to be willing to stop. Finally i have an announcement”

“Oh is the wicked witch going to die?”

Martin gives him a look, but honestly he can tell he is trying not to laugh.

Their shitty boss doesn't bat an eye at his comment, which, rude.

“Not at all, as a matter of fact you are all invited to Peter’s and I wedding next friday, also it's mandatory you go. And no, i have already checked and there is nothing on your schedules that could impede any of you to come”

“Elias i hardly think this is neccesar-”

“On the contrary Jon, you all got along and treated Peter so nicely  _ i insist  _ you come”

“It seems hardly professional that we-”

“Ah but Sasha didn't you say that you couldn't be fired? Then well, we are on even ground now, since you are all up to date with what is going on. This is a way to show gratitude”

This motherfuck-

“No need for the language Tim”

Did he?

“Anyways ill wait for you” He started to leave when suddenly he stopped.

“Ah, almost forgot, Tim, Peter wanted me to give you this” He takes an envelope out of his pocket and offers it to him.

“It's not going to kill me is it?”

“Not at all, actually i think you might enjoy it”

Hesitantly he grabs it and when Elias looks expectantly at him he opens it. 

Sue him for being curious.

Inside there is a note and a…

“Holy shit!”

“Tim?” Sasha sounded worried, but he was honestly trying to wrap his head around what…

“It's a ticket for an all paid, one week trip, to the resort I wanted to go! This thing is expensive as hell! There is a kayaking race and all, what the hell???”

“Wait, can i even have vacations?”

“As a matter of fact, yes, we have to comply with work regulation. Just as long as you notify me first and we can arrange the time stamp, then sure”

“What? why would he even give you that, is he trying to get you killed??” Jons worry is actually right, considering the kind of thing he serves. He looks at Elias questioningly. He sighs.

“He doesn't mean any harm i promise, he has been warned under threat of sleeping on the couch not to use any of my employees to feed forsaken” If they lived in any other world that would be hilarious.

“And the note?”

Bless Martin

He opens it and inside only says.

Please go.

Oh.

OH, well maybe he wasn't so bad, morally speaking he absolutely is, sacrificing people and all, but he remembers him speaking about the place and actually got him the chance to go! 

“I should write him a thank you note!” Elias looks positively thrilled.

“If you want i can give you his number so you can message him, maybe even send pictures?...”

Despite hating the little weasel, he nods. The man takes a card with a number already written on it. Smug prick.

“Well that really would be all, i'll be  _ seeing you _ ”

Elias hears Sasha trying to convince Tim to no avail that the note doesn't mean what he thinks and he snickers. Oh, he knew Tim would misunderstand Peter's message, he contemplated warning Peter, but this would be more fun in the long run.

Many months later Tim would receive a lot of things in hopes to buy his silence from Peter who really wanted the younger man to stop texting him. However Tim would continue to misinterpret them for the blackmail they were. Elias was having the time of his life, Peter seemed to have accidentally adopted Timothy. 

All was well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter is a simp for Elias confirmed, also Elias is a petty bitch who would cut you if you try to steal his husband, unless he planned it first, in that case its cool.  
> And here we are at the end!! I hope everyone enjoyed it, god knows i did. I loved all the comments you left me im ashdffdhs.   
> Tim and Peter are the best unexpected relationship ever, and i would love to write them more. Accidnetaly nurturing Peter is best Peter.  
> Also listen, i make my lonelyeyes soft because that is self care and by god i need it.  
> I have a new idea for another lonely eyes fic, it should come soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> This was such a fun idea to try omg. Its not going to be too long maybe 2 or 3 chapters.  
> Both of them are idiots and love each other, but both are honestly horrible people and only deserve each other with their bastardly ways.  
> Im not going to lie Elias just, stress yelling back at Jane was the funniest part of this to me. Thanks for reading! Comments cheer me up so leave me one if you like this.


End file.
